Tokyo Now Colloquium

Joshua Howell and Aaron Forbes will be presenting a paper titled "Tokyo: Techno City, a Study of Theory, Architecture and Popular Culture" at the Tokyo Now Colloquium this coming Saturday, May 31 at UCLA AUD. The colloquium will be held from 9am-3pm in DeCafe.

Paper Synopsis:
Since the 1960's, personal electronic devices and mass communications has altered the physical development of the urban fabric. Theorists from all social and cultural arenas have hypothesized how these mobile objects could become primary agents of the next generation and impact every facet of culture. This paper simultaneously traces social theory, architectural projects and popular culture examples of how mobile electronic devices and mass communication have altered urban environments.
Raynor Banham, in the 1960's writes of small self contained, low cost, electronic devices which have the ability to transform circumstances into conditions of human desires. Banham's vision has become a reality in modern day Tokyo, where personal electronic devices have given people more power than all of Banham's gizmo's combined. The extraordinary power of these devices have called into question the need for physical space and transformed the way in which architects and planners design environments.
The screen becomes the new cross roads of Tokyo. Cell phone and text messaging have reduced physical landmarks to a relic of the past and even begun to eliminate the need for face to face physical interaction. Electronic communication mediums break down cultural distinctions of language, and location through the use of universals such as sequential images and soundtracks. In this new electronically immersive environment, the mobile telephone is no longer just a device to talk into, but a remote control for your life.

Medium Cool + Studio Update

A lot has been happing in the past month. The week of February 11-15 I participated in the Medium Cool workshop here at UCLA. Four up and coming Japanese architects taught a fast paced design charrette looking at medium density housing solutions for Los Angeles. I worked under the direction of Kumiko Inui, who is well known for her simple, but elegant retail designs in Tokyo. The client was Christopher Hawthorne, architecture critic for the LA Times, who owned a house in Eagle Rock (near Pasadena) and was looking to build a new house on the lot with potential for expansion. Working with two undergrads and another graduate student, our proposal created a micro-urban condition on the site with four separate buildings. We pulled the buildings in towards the center of the site, keeping the site corners as garden space so as to create a buffer between the street and neighbors.

The final review was filmed and covered by A+U Magazine (I should have a few quotes in the article when the issue comes out). The jury consisted of Greg Lynn, Sylvia Lavin, Neil Denari, Jeff Inaba, Hitoshi Abe, Christopher Hawthorne, Roger Sherman and Dana Cuff.







Below are a few images from midreview for my studio project. The design is driven by a continuous parking ramp which winds to the top of the building, feeding a central commercial core and infilled with residential units. Several "attractor" commercial programs such as movie theaters, atheletic centers and high end restaurants are strategically located within the structure. These attractors then serve to feed the secondary commercial programs and open spaces.
The images are several weeks old... Final reviews are in a little over a week and there is a lot to be done still.

Tokyo - Vertical Urbanism

Arrived back in Los Angeles this morning after an overnight flight from Tokyo. I didn't have access to a computer while in Tokyo, so the plan for daily updates never materialized.

The density of Tokyo was different from anything I have seen in the US or Europe. This isn't high-rise density in the sense of NY city, but a vertical urbanism in which the street is carried up vertically through the buildings. In Tokyo there is a common building typology which positions vertical circulation on the front of the building, accessible from the street, and layers different shops and programs vertically. Each shop has its own signage visible from the street. This vertical ordering creates very interesting interior "streets" in which interactions can take place in a stairway or elevator lobby. In the US, it is not uncommon to see shops or restaurants located on the ground level of a building, and residential units located above, but the prevailing train of thought is that only the ground level of a building can function successfully as a retail space.



Another interesting result of extreme density is how Tokyo makes use of awkward and left over spaces to develop usable program. Some examples are: an outdoor soccer field on top of an 8 story retail building, a park and sports fields located between a train line and street, "golden gai" - a collection of tiny bars each of which can only seat about 5-7 people and are accessed by a 2 meter wide pedestrian street, and "memory lane" a collection of yakitori restaurants and bars located in a narrow alley behind a new retail establishment.

The Japanese also have an interesting habit of arranging objects or stores into highly organized similar collections. On an urban scale, Tokyo arranges shops which sell similar things into zones, ie: bookstores, music stores, motorcycle shops, bars, or sushi restaurants. This organization carries down to the object level, where similar objects are classified and organized by type.

Live From Tokyo... update #1

Kom ban wa! I am posting live from a manga kissa in 私塾Tokyo. We arrived last night、and after a wonderful dinner and too much soju, we finally went to bed after about 30 hours straight. Today has been spent touring the Shinjuku area with Dr. Julian Worrell from Tokyo. The city is quite overwhelming, but amazing. The density is obviously much greater than in Los Angeles, but we are noticing significant urban planning differences and a entirely different set of building typologies. One interesting thing we`ve noticed is that it is common for many commercial areas to have 4 + levels of retail program, but each floor is an entirerly different store. Currently I am writing this from the red light district were the massage parlors and love hotels have provided much amusement for a group of 14 Americans.
Apparently my time limit is up on this computer station, so I will have to cut this post a bit short. I will try to upload some pictures soon. If I can find a computer, I am hoping to post regular entries of our daily activities.
Osaki ni!